Multiplatform Mix Control and Audio Analysis

UC Surface

UC Surface

Designed for live mixing.

Millions of events have been mixed on PreSonus® remote mixing software over the past seven years. We used that experience to design the most intuitive and useful workflow on the planet. When you’re mixing a live show, and the heat is on, you don’t have time to search for controls and meters. PreSonus UC Surface has your back, enabling you to accomplish your mission with confidence and providing fast, intuitive access to everything you need. A unique layout lets you always see the status of your entire mix. Filter DCA groups are the quickest and easiest way available to navigate and control your mix.

The same experience on multiple platforms.

Do you prefer a Mac®, Windows® PC, Android™ tablet, or iPad®? Touchscreen or mouse? Want to network using Ethernet or Wi-Fi? Yes to all of the above? We agree! So UC Surface provides the same layout and contextual workflow on all three platforms, supports iPad, Android, and Windows 8 and Windows 10 touchscreens, and networks via wired or wireless connections. Only UC Surface lets you roam the room with an iPad, then return to a Windows multi-touch computer at front-of-house without missing a beat.

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It’s all about workflow.

UC Surface is designed for intuitive and quick performance, with smart features that let you see everything you need when you need to use it. See an overview of the entire mixer at a glance; related functions like mix master level, graphic EQ, and the effects editors are contextually brought into focus. A combined scroll bar and meter bridge is always visible. Each Mix Select button has an embedded output meter presenting an activity overview for all aux and effects mixes. Create Filter DCA groups that combine the workflow of DCAs and view groups, letting you navigate and control your mixer faster than ever.

Managing a mix with 64 channels and multiple effects returns can be a daunting task. Modern mixers have tried to address the problem of managing complex mixes by providing population/view groups that reduce the channels you’re viewing at one time and DCAs that allow you to control a group of channels. We’ve combined the best parts of these solutions—and removed the strict limits to the number of groups—by introducing Filter DCAs.

With Filter DCAs, you can control and navigate your mix with finesse and precision. Start by choosing Channel Types, which assign an icon and name to a channel (kick, snare, guitar, and so on) so you can quickly identify what’s on each channel. UC Surface uses this information to create Filter DCAs automatically (Drums, Guitars, etc.). With this done for you, you can focus on setting up your mix. You can also create your own Filter DCAs with one or more input channels, effects returns, the tape inputs, and the digital returns.

A Filter DCA can contain any combination of the available input channels and effects returns, and you can create enough Filter DCA groups to fit your needs (24 on Series III consoles and more than 30 on StudioLive RM/RML mixers)—far more than with the population groups and DCAs offered by high-end mixers. You can include the same channel in lots of different Filter DCAs, thereby slicing and dicing the mix in various creative ways.

Filter DCAs also work independently on each mix giving you control of the same group on the main mix or any aux mix. Say you want to turn up all the drums in the main mix and then turn them all down in the bass player’s aux mix; you can do it with ease thanks to Filter DCAs.

All of your Filter DCAs consolidate into one Filter DCA Masters view where you can mix the groups. Want to drill down? Just touch a button to “spill” that group into the channel view and adjust the mix of the individual channels within a Filter DCA group. Then exit right back to the Masters view. With your selection of Filter DCAs and the Masters view, you can create your own custom layer that puts exactly the channels and groups you need under your fingers.

This is going to change the way you mix!

See what you need, when you need it.

With UC Surface, you enjoy a complete overview of your mix, with the details and controls you need in context, depending on what you’re doing. We started with an elegant layout for comfortable viewing. Next, we created alternate view options such as Channel Overview, which show all Fat Channel processing for the selected channel, and a Meters view that provides an overview of all input and output meters. Combined with the new Select Sync option and you can now add 1, 2, 3 or more screens that will follow what you’re selecting on the mixer. Color modes make it easy to read the display in bright light for outside gigs or in dim lighting for indoor shows. Everything is clearly visible and optimized for mixing a live show.

With UC Surface, we discarded old paradigms about how control software should look and feel and started fresh. UC Surface’s control knobs are far superior to traditional virtual knobs for entering parameter values. Each knob shows the parameter name, a level bar to see at a glance where the parameter is set, and a text read out of the exact parameter value. When you touch a knob, you can opt to have a large numeric display with slider appear, making it easy and intuitive to dial in your settings.

Each channel strip includes detailed meters for input, compressor gain reduction and gate gain reduction. A combined scroll bar and miniature meter bridge lets you see all inputs’ meter activity at once, including clipping, while also displaying the current position of the channels in the scroll view above so you can quickly identify and navigate to the channel you need.

You see a complete overview of your mix with the details and controls you need in context, depending on what you’re doing. You can assign the channel strip to custom colors and can view the color on the full channel strip or just the name bar. The Channel Overview shows all Fat Channel processing, while Meters view shows all input and output meters, and Sends view shows all aux send levels for the selected channel.

Color modes make it easy to read the display in bright light for outside gigs or in dim lighting for indoor shows. Two presets and a user-adjustable knob let you dial in the look you want.

Get a better mix with tuning wizards and measurement tools.

Rational Acoustics’ Smaart Measurement Technology™ is the industry standard for professional room tuning and measurement for live tours and system installs. PreSonus UC Surface for StudioLive AI mixers and Virtual StudioLive for StudioLive Classic consoles are the only mixing applications that integrate Smaart with easy-to-use wizards, making it quick and easy to take advantage of these powerful tools. You can also view an overlay of the spectrograph or RTA on any EQ graph to help you identify problem areas and keep your mix free of feedback and distortion. Smaart is available for StudioLive AI-series mixers, while StudioLive Series III mixers instead include a built-in RTA for real-time analysis of any input or mix. Learn more about UC Surface’s Smaart tools.

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UC Surface in the Studio

UC Surface makes creating monitor mixes with Studio 192-series interfaces quick and easy so you can focus on recording. Because UC Surface can run wirelessly on an iPad or Android tablet, it doesn’t have to share screen real estate with a DAW, and musicians can dial in their monitor mixes remotely without an expensive personal monitor system. UC Surface also unlocks the complete speaker management system built into Studio 192-series interfaces.

Safe, sane, and secure

Securing the mixing station can be crucial when you need to step away. Securing your wireless remote-control system is an even bigger issue because someone who hates your band could be anywhere in the venue. That’s why UC Surface has security features that effectively protect the entire system—in addition to whatever protection your wireless router affords. UC Surface lets you set permissions that determine which features can be controlled from each iPad, tablet, or computer on the network. You can also completely block any iOS device from accessing the network entirely, even if someone has the router password.